— Justice Seeker
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 22, 2012
APRIL 22 — The mayor of Kuala Lumpur, or the man who heads the KL City Hall (DBKL), is a political appointee.
He is appointed by Prime Minister Najib Razak, and he takes orders from Putrajaya. It is not an independent DBKL, as Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein would have us believe, that the people at DBKL make decisions independently or without fear or favour.
DBKL listens to Najib, Federal Territories Minister Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin, or any other Barisan Nasional power broker.
So Hishammuddin can save his act about hoping DBKL will offer the organisers of Bersih 3.0 the alternative of Stadium Merdeka, now that DBKL has denied approval for the use of Dataran Merdeka.
The Cabinet, in which Hishammuddin is a member, decided that Dataran Merdeka is off limits and wants to confine Bersih 3.0 to Stadium Merdeka and this information has been communicated to DBKL.
But here is the minister trying to hoodwink Malaysians into thinking a) that he is a reasonable chap; b) that the Datuk Bandar is some independent-minded chap and c) that the BN government is really unconcerned about Bersih 3.0.
This is the depth of the ministers; they get some talking points prepared for them by the government’s communications team and think that it sounds intelligent.
No one who has had any dealings with DBKL doubts that they are bound by instructions from Putrajaya!